Guys, guys! Don't waste money on "oxygen-free" cables or other scams. http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm And: if you use balanced cables (most of the soundcards mentioned, e.g. RME and Delta 1010 have balanced "tip-ring-sleeve" connections) you can have very long runs with no audible difference. I regularly use microphone cables in excess of 1000 meters, in my job as an audio mixer for broadcast sports, and the sound is hum-free and good enough for broadcast. Line-level audio signals will go even further- and if you can hear or measure a difference you have golden Bat ears. -Steiny (510)907-0897 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andreas Kuckartz" <A.Kuckartz@xxxxxxx> To: linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Feasibility of Crestron like Linux BasedWholeHouse Audio System - Multisource / Multizone Capable???? Date: 5 Jan 2005 22:43:03 +0100 > > Florin Andrei wrote: > > > But it might be ok, though, to run high- > > amplitude analog signal over lengthy cables. I.e., speaker signal. > > At those amplitudes and impedances, there's only a very low risk of > > picking up noise. > > You do not pick up noise but the longer the speaker cables the higher their > capacitance and their resistance. There also are other strange distortions > happening due to cables. All of this can influence the sound: > > "Speaker cable needs to have a very low electrical resistance, so > it needs to be > fairly hefty and made from a pure material, such as oxygen-free copper (OFC). > Impure material can introduce nonlinearities (the oxidised copper actually > behaves as a semiconductor) that manifest themselves as increased > distortion at > low signal levels. There are many cables that qualify, including 30A 'cooker' > mains cable, but a sensibly priced, heavy-duty speaker cable is easier to use > and looks nicer. If the cable resistance is more than a tiny > fraction of an Ohm, > the amplifier's damping factor is compromised and also the loudspeaker's > frequency response can be affected. The reason for this is that a > loudspeaker's > impedance varies with frequency, but if this impedance is placed in > series with > a significant fixed cable resistance it acts as a potential divider, and the > power delivered to the loudspeaker at different frequencies will be altered > slightly." > (http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan02/articles/faq0102.asp#Anchor-32729) > > (It might be difficult to convince people who intend to buy expensive golden > speaker cables to use Linux and a little bit of digital hardware > instead but one > could try :-) > > Cheers, > Andreas -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm
